I have been smoking cigars for approx 20 years. I find my self preferring medium or medium plus strength. I used to LOVE the pepper bombs. After covid, my tastes have changed such that I really try to avoid the heavy pepper.

Caldwell King is Dead has become a favorite . What other Dominican Puros are you folks liking?
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The only Ashton I have experience with are the VSGs, but they are full-bodied. Yet I presume that much of their "regular" line would suit your new tastes well.
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My favorites would be Caldwell, Fuente, and AVO.
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Clarification: I’m really looking for boutique/small brand stuff.
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It's been quite a while since I regularly smoked Dominicans. Oddly enough though, the other day I remembered the Fuente Anejos should be released soon. I'm seriously thinking about hunting some down when they are.
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I love the E.P. Carillo. In the past the Davidoff have been good. Everything has changed recently.
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Get ready for sticker shock. I used to buy a box of sharks every year. They used to be 350-450 a box. Looks like they are going to be in the 600-800 range......no thanks.
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Chogui is a domican puro that flies under the radar. Was off the market for awhile but i've seen pack at small batch not too long ago. The davidoff dominicanas were very, very good.
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Still have ONE of those Original Chogui Dos 77s
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Wow! :-)
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https://www.tampasweethearts.com/


This shop is located in Ybor City and is owned by the Fuentes
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I think it is interesting to discuss Dominican Puros - Dominican cigars made with only Dominican tobacco in filler, binder, and wrapper.

It has made me sad, but the best one I have ever had was the La Flor Dominicana Litto Gomez Diez line. Their Small Batch line is good as well, but the LGD line was superb. When it was the only one out there besides Opus, I used to say, "LGD is what Opus X aspires to be!"

I am not truly sure, but I do not know any other truly "Dominican Puro" cigars than...
AF Opux X
LFD - LGD & Small Batch
Caldwell The King is Dead
Ashton ESG
Avo 85th Anniversary (but no more)

So, are there even any other Dominican Puros out there?

Peace of the Lord be with you.
Ashton are Dominicans,
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Davidoff has made two, the special 53 and dominicana. La Aurora has the 100 anos line. The non cuban cohibas have a dominican puro in the roster. Chogui is back. Aren't many but a few floating out there.
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Those LG Small Batch were ripping good, but V V Strong for Dominican. To me, the Caldwell is the benchmark and similar to what I am looking for.

I am going to DR in January and will be on the lookout for local rolls.
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I do not have Davidoff cigars normally available where I am - and when I have found them, their pricing is normally very prohibitive...but maybe I will have to look for them.
From my research, the Davidoff Dominicana is not a Dominican puro for the binder is Ecuadorian. Am I incorrect?

As for the La Aurora, I guess I heard something like that, but I had passed on La Aurora as a line I was not 100% pleased with after a couple disappointing experiences. So, I may have to find some.

Chogui are out of my price range, unless something has changed.

I guess i will need to try the Caldwells again. I had a couple of the The King Is Dead, and have the remnant of a box of Manzanitas in my coolerdor. Now that I know they are a Dominican puro, I will have to go and retry them. I know I like them, and they were a very unique flavor to me, but it never struck me that their pedigree was that.

Peace of the Lord be with you.
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Davidoff Puro Dominicana is a puro. it was a Ltd Edition around 2010. The regular Dominicana does have an Ecuador binder. There was also a Puro D'oro that was a Ltd.

Agree on La Aurora. Nothing they ever made did much for me.

Chogui is back and readily accessible for $10ish. I have a couple of the original issue left. Have not bought any of the new ones yet......mainly because I absolutely HATE the band. It looks like a 711 gas station cigar now. Even so, I will probably pick some up to try.

As for Caldwell...If you don't love them and want to offload them, let me know. Caldwell is hitting on all cylinders these days. I could very easily smoke 50% Caldwell and 50% Crowned Heads and never buy anything else. Robert Caldwell and Jon Huber are just so damn good at it. Both can be had for a fiver at cigarpage.
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AF Don Carlos series are one of the benchmark DR lines of cigars. Still reasonably priced all considered.
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Love every Cadwell I have had. Like I said, I have the rest of a box of The King is Dead in the Manzanita size, love them - just didn't realize it was a Dominican puro.

Have not had many Crowned Heads - maybe I should try a few of those to see if I like them, just not sure which lines to try first. I usually do it by looking to see which ones I can afford.

AF DCs are a great Dominican made smoke, love the Cameroon wrapper on them. But that's the point, while a great smoke, they are not a Dominican PURO. To be a PURO form a particular country, all tobacco in it - filler, binder, wrapper - must be grown in that country, in this case, the Dominican Repuplic.

Peace of the Lord be with you.
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Lol I got into smoking 10 years ago, I went to Fuentemania at Holts in downtown Philadelphia, box of sharks $200
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First, "Fuentemania" is a great word. Wish it was possible for more retailers to feature that brand in specials, but the company doesn't seem interested.

It's been much longer, but I went to downtown Philadelphia Holt's once, and felt like their prices overall were very good for a brick and mortar. Pleasant surprise, actually. And, this was so long ago that when an employee told me I'd missed meeting Bill Cosby by five minutes, I was bummed out.

Pardon the interruption, I hadn't thought about Holt's in a long time.
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